Heart of the Key and Soul of Time
by Dragon Drow
Summary: Peace has lasted for many moons. Yet for Sora and Riku, who's hearts have already crossed into the darkness and returned, nothing ever remains peaceful for long. Will they be destroyed without each other? Or will their hearts find a way to live?
1. Chapter 1

_Kingdom Hearts_

_Heart of the Key and Soul of Time_

_By: Dragon Drow_

Key and Soul Chapter 1: Dreams and Destruction 

Darkness surrounded two men as they fell. One had spiky brown hair, while the other had long silver hair. Strange coloured lights began to surround the two men and separate them. The men reached for each other, but they were two far to reach. It seemed that everything was pushing them away from each other. As if nothing wanted them to be together. Soon the two men fell onto a stain glass circular floor that was cut in half. "Sora!" The silver haired man called.

Sora turned to the silver haired man. His brown hair barely bordered his face.

"Riku! Are you alright?!" Sora called to the silver haired man.

Just as Riku was about to answer, the stain glass floors under them turned a blood red colour, and began to separate. The darkness seemed to squander away from a bright light that seemed to fall between Sora and Riku. The two men noticed that a person with red hair and star cheeks fall between them. The darkness began to follow the person as they were falling.

"Find the one with red hair and star cheeks. They have the blood of the worlds in their veins," a deep echoing voice ordered.

And then…



Sora awoke suddenly in a sweat. His dark blue eyes looked out the window of his small wooden room to see that the summer sun was already high in the sky. After a moment of examining the many messy piles of books and clothing sprawled across the floor, Sora got up and walked over to the closet. He opened the dark doors, and examined what few bits of clothing that was actually on hangers. The first article was his yellow swim shorts. Today he was not going to the beach, so he put the shorts back in the closet. The second article was a simple white t-shirt that had "I 3 Riku" imprinted on it. This was a somewhat serious occasion, so Sora put the shirt back in the closet. Third was a small piece of red fabric that could possibly be female panties. Nothing of that nature was happening so that was put back in the closet as well. The final article was a black jacket with dark green lining. A bronze laced short cape was attached to the collar of the jacket. With an agreement in Sora's mind, he took the jacket off the hanger and threw the hanger onto the floor. He searched the piles and found a dark red t-shirt, and black baggy pants with light green spirals that went down to his knees. He changed out of his pajamas and into his new clothing. Sora examined himself in his small circular mirror.

"Sora! Hurry up already!" Riku's calm voice yelled from below.

Sora quickly grabbed his brown gloves with red and green lining and his silver chain necklace with a silver crown on it and ran out of his room, and down the wooden stairs.

Downstairs, Riku leaned against a wooden support beam and waited. His dark purple sleeveless vest covered his black sleeveless shirt. A sliver belt held up Riku's dark purple pants that were skin sight from his waist to his knees, and baggy after a black band around Riku's knees. Long silver wings were stitched on the baggy part of the pants and the black bands around Riku's knees. Riku wore a purple fingerless glove on his right hand that had a small silver wing tied around the wrist. On his other hand a long black band was wrapped around his hand, and tied between Riku's index and middle fingers. His purple and silver shoes tapped on the wooden floor. Sora ran down the stairs, and apologized for being late.

"It's alright, but Kairi went to meet us at the market," Riku replied.

Sora nodded and put the silver chain over his head. Riku turned towards the front door. His long silver hair rolled down to his back. Riku's light blue eyes stared at the clear blue sky.

"We should get going," Sora interrupted.

Riku agreed silently, even though he really didn't want to go shopping today. The two friends left the house.

Outside, Sora and Riku climbed down a ladder and headed to the small dock, where a shaky wooden raft was tied to a post. Sora questioned for a moment about the durability of the raft, but then again he was going with Riku. He climbed onto the raft, while Riku untied it from the post. Riku jumped on the raft, picked up the paddle, and steered the raft north.

As the raft moved shakily through the raging sea, Sora once again questioned the stability of the raft. He turned to Riku who paddled through the water as if it didn't even move. To get his mind off the raft, Sora stared at Riku. Nor did he question how there could be so many violent waves on a cloudless, sunny day with no wind. It seemed that Riku's silver hair dancing in the wind soothed Sora.

"It wasn't this rough when I sailed here," Riku pointed out.

Sora mumbled at the mention of the water, and the weak wooden raft. Riku noticed Sora's disappointment and turned to him.

"Don't worry so much," Riku replied, "We should be back to the main island soon…"

Riku's attention turned to the small patch what was the large island where most of the people on Destiny Islands lived. It was outlined in bright red flames. The sky around the island became the blackened colour of coal. Sora stood on the raft, and summoned his silver keyblade. He ordered Riku to keep rowing towards the island. Sora wasn't about to let his home be destroyed without a fight again.

Sora and Riku landed on a beach. Although they were only a few minutes, many buildings were destroyed, or had ashes laced on the white bricks. Sora jumped off the raft, and headed into the city. Riku paused and looked up at the sky.

_Can't anything ever stay peaceful? _Riku thought.

The ashes of the sky seemed to move toward the center of the island. As it moved, the ashes rained down onto the city. The terrifying screams echoed through the streets. Riku couldn't allow innocent people to be hurt. He ran the same way Sora did, but something seemed wrong. Riku paused and looked up at the sky. For a brief moment, a bright star shined through the ash. Yet it took the same amount of time for Riku to realize that something was falling towards him. He rolled out of the way as the object crashed into the ground. Riku looked up to see a familiar golden handle of the keyblade. But he just saw Sora run off with it. As he examined it closer the blade that was stabbed into the ground was clear, with silver sand running inside the blade. Riku pulled the blade out of the ground. The end was shaped like a keyblade. The strange silver sand spread back down to the handle, and was trapped at the top. A small slip of white paper hung off the handle.

"Use the Time wisely," Riku read quietly.

Although Riku was thankful to have a weapon at his side, the bad grammar of the note didn't help him understand what was happening. He ripped off the small note and ran after Sora.



At that time, Sora ran through the city. The buildings were still burning, and the people lay on the ground lifeless. But there was no sign of what had caused this event. As he came closer to the large fountain at the center of town, a tall woman with long blonde hair, and a red dress came into view.

"Lady! Get out of here!" Sora yelled.

The woman didn't move. Her long locks didn't even move in the wind.

"Run!" Sora ordered.

Once again the woman didn't move. Sora ran right up to her, and reached for her hand. In a quick flash the woman's slender hand grabbed Sora's thin throat and lifted him up with ease. Sora kicked the woman, but his foot ached afterwards. As if he had kicked stone instead of flesh. The woman turned her head right around with a crack, which creeped out Sora. It only lasted a moment, because Sora noticed that the woman's skin was completely made of stone. Even her unblinking eyes were the same light grey colour. Sora gasped for air, but the woman's grasp was unreeling.

"SORA!" Riku's calm delightful voice called.

Riku ran towards Sora. The woman turned to Riku, but her eyes seemed to be drawn to his new keyblade more than Riku himself. She released Sora, and ran towards Riku. The woman was rather fast, even though her steps echoed like real stone. In a second, Riku's keyblade cut through the woman's neck, as if it was butter. The woman's head fell to the ground, right after her body. Sora and Riku stared at the body expecting it to get back up, but what happened was far more gruesome than ever expected. The dark red blood slithered down the woman's eyes. The same blood spilt from her ears and neck. It lavished the stone road. The more Sora and Riku watched, the more the blood leaked out of the woman's body.

Riku noticed that some of the tall palm trees were being sucked into the ground leaving a patch of bright green energy moving about. He shook Sora to get his attention off the woman's body.

"Something is wrong here! We are facing an enemy we can't fight without hurting others, and Destiny Islands is being destroyed!" Riku yelled.

Sora thought for a moment then nodded in agreement. A strong wind blew by for a second. Sora turned to see a very familiar red and yellow gummi ship hovering over the ground. The door on the side slide opened, and Donald reached with his white hand for Sora. He wore the same dark blue jacket and hat from before.

"Sora! Grab my hand!" Donald ordered in his memorable high-pitched voice.

Sora did as he was told, but also reached for Riku. He would not leave Riku again. Riku reached for Sora's hand, but the gummi ship was already rising and too far apart. The two friends called for each other and their world, their home was beginning to be sucked into it's self. Riku watched as the gummi ship went out of sight.

_Sora, please be safe, and come back for me, _Riku's heart whispered.

Suddenly someone grabbed Riku's waist and lifted him up off the ground that quickly disappeared under him. Someone threw him into the sky.

"You'd better be safe. The worlds depend on all three of you," A warm sweet voice said.

There was a blast of the bright green energy that quickly drained back to the center of where Destiny Islands used to be. Riku was once again left in darkness, but he wouldn't be corrupted like last time.


	2. Key Chapter 2

Heart of the Key and Soul of Time 

Key Chapter 2: Old Friends and New Troubles.

Goofy flew the gummi ship as steadily as he could. Sora watched as his home vanished within a green light. There was nothing but darkness where Destiny Islands once stood.

"Why did you not wait for me to get Riku?!" Sora demanded.

"Because we would have been caught in the blast and vanished like he did!" Donald yelled back.

The two kept on arguing for the next few minutes.

"Gawrsh Sora, don't get so angry. Well find him again like before a-hyuck," Goofy declared.

Donald and Sora stopped arguing for a moment. Sora smiled and thanked Goofy. Sora asked what happened at Destiny Island. Donald and Goofy remained silent. They didn't know either.

"Don't worry, Merlin will know. He has been doing some research while you were gone," Donald replied as he took the control of the gummi ship.

"And than we'll find Riku!" Sora proclaimed.

"And Kairi," Goofy said.

"Oh… yeah… and Kairi," Sora said with less enthusiasm.

Everyone laughed as the gummi ship flew into the star lit sky.

It took hours but the gummi ship was finally in view of the world of Hallow Bastion. Sora was relieved to see the familiar sight of the world. He would see his friends Leon, Yuffie, Cid and the others after these long years. Sora put his hand inside one of his pockets and felt the letter that had the King's insignia on it. He pulled it out of his pocket and read over the letters again. Goofy noticed the letter and asked what it said.

"Well… it's strange because it doesn't seem like the King wrote it himself. It just has his insignia on it," Sora replied.

"But what does it say?" Donald asked.

Sora cleared his throat and read the letter…

"Darkness is creeping into reality again.

Souls are being controlled,

And the worlds are showing their true forms.

The keys of heart, time, and the worlds must come together one more time.

Find them, or all will be lost."

There was an odd silence. No one spoke for a few minutes until Sora asked if Donald or Goofy knew what the letter meant.

"No we didn't know that the King sent a letter to you. He told us to go and find you to bring you back to the castle," Donald replied.

"The silence was just because the letter was creepy," Goofy said.

Everyone was in agreement that the King couldn't have written the letter.

"Than lets just go and ask the King himself," Sora suggested.

The gummi ship drew closer to Hallow Bastion, and safely landed beside the castle.

Sora stepped out of the gummi ship and looked around at the stone buildings of Hallow Bastion. He breathed in the cool air, and paused for a moment while he remembered the good times he had on this world.

"Look out Sora!" Goofy yelled.

A small shadow Heartless jumped out from the side of the building. Sora summoned his golden handle keyblade. Just as he prepared to strike, a long bang echoed through the streets and the shadow Heartless disappeared.

"You should be more careful Sora," a familiar voice called.

Sora turned around to see Leon standing behind him. Leon turned and began to walk away.

"Come with me Sora," Leon said, "we'll talk in a more private place."

Goofy and Sora followed Leon quickly. Donald looked at a small gray bird sitting on a lamppost for a moment, than followed as well. The bird watched as Donald ran down the stone street to catch up to Sora and the others.

Leon led Donald, Goofy and Sora to Merlin's small house. Sora remembered the wooden walled building vividly. Leon was about to push the door open when he heard voices yelling from the inside of the building. With a sigh, Leon pushed the door open. Inside Yuffie was chasing Cid around. She was throwing ninja stars at Cid. A few had hit Cid's ass, but the majority of them missed and hit possibly everything else in the room. Merlin was trying to call the two down. Merlin's blue robe had some holes from the ninja stars. His long white beard was messy.

"Stop!" Merlin yelled as loud as he could.

That didn't seem to help. Sora decided to try to stop one of them physically. He jumped on Yuffie's back. The two fell to the floor.

"Would you two look at what you did?" Sora demanded

Cid and Yuffie looked around Merlin's house. Paper was everywhere and at least, fifty books were destroyed. Sora released Yuffie and everything seemed peaceful. Cid fixed up his short blonde hair, while Yuffie dusted off her light brown shorts and green shirt.

Slowly, everyone sat around the small round table in the center of Merlin's small house. Leon leaned against the wall beside the door. His short black jacket seemed to be form fitting to his body as his long brown hair stayed behind him.

"Welcome back Sora, Donald and Goofy," Merlin greeted.

"So what brings you here kid?" Cid asked with a grin.

Sora scowled. He hated it when Cid called him a kid. It always made Sora feel like a donkey and short.

"My home was destroyed," Sora replied calmly.

He didn't want to start another fight with Cid and destroy more of Merlin's house.

"Again?!?!" Cid and Yuffie yelled at the same time.

Leon didn't see to even be bothered by the information. Merlin asked who attack Destiny Islands.

"No idea," Goofy replied.

"But they did have stone skin," Donald stated.

Suddenly the room went silent. Even Leon seemed to react to Donald's comment. The silence seemed to go on for a few minutes until Sora began to question everyone. Finally Leon stood up.

"Sometime a Heartless or a Nobody is greeted by someone known as The Fox. It is believed The Fox takes their minds and thus the Heartless or Nobody becomes a mindless doll of The Fox," Leon explained.

"We call them Soulless," Yuffie said.

Once again there was silence. Sora suddenly stood up.

"If we defeat this fox," Sora began.

"It's The Fox," Donald corrected.

"Ok. If we defeat, The Fox, will everything go back to normal?" Sora asked.

Merlin stood up and went to his desk. He took out a small notebook out of the desk and gave it to Sora.

"We don't even know. Not much is known about the Soulless. What we do know is in that note book," Merlin said.

Sora looked at the red cover of the notebook. In black letter was 'The Fox and The Soulless'. Immediately Sora recognized Cid's messy yet straight handwriting. Yuffie took out a small gold shell shaped locket from one of her pockets. She threw it to Sora.

"I found it on the body of one of the Soulless a few days ago. See if you can find out who it belonged to," Yuffie replied

Sora opened the locket to see a small picture of a merman. The merman was the spitting image of the organization 13 member, Zexion. Sora nodded and asked where he should head first. No one seemed to have an answer.

"Maybe we should visit the king a-hyuck," Goofy suggested.

Everyone seemed to be in agreement. Donald, Goofy and Sora said their farewells to their friends and headed back to the gummi ship. The only thing Sora questioned was if he should have told them about the strange dream he had. But he could leave the question to the king.

_Author's note: In case you as the reader didn't realize this, the story has two plots, A Sora Plot and Riku Plot. This allows you as the reader to choose between reading just the Sora Plot, or just the Riku Plot, or both. The Sora Plot Chapters are 'Key Chapters' and the Riku Plot Chapters are 'Soul Chapters'. Although both Plots will intertwine and thus you get a 'Key and Soul Chapter' The Plots will only spoil the ending if you finished reading one and not the other._

_Dragon Drow_


	3. Soul Chapter 2

Heart of the Key and Soul of Time 

Soul Chapter 2: Lost Soul and Gained Companions

After hours in darkness, Riku groaned. His light blue eyes opened but had trouble focusing. He saw a blurry figure. The only distinguishing feature that Riku could see was the thin black lines that looked like stars on the figures cheeks. Riku reached out to touch the figure. Suddenly the figure grabbed Riku's hand. Riku's eyes focused to see a male with pale white skin and emerald green eyes looking down at him. The male wore a thick black stitched hat that covered his hair. The male wore a long blue leather jacket that reached his knees, and black pants.

"Don't touch my hat," the male ordered.

The male let go of Riku and walked out of the wooden walled room. Riku looked around the room. There was a small wooden dresser and the small steel bed that he was lying on. A white cotton sheet lay on top of Riku. After a moment, a tall black haired man wearing a long red torn cape, tight black pants and shirt walked into the room. His long pointed gold boots clanked on the maple floor. The man pulled a small stool to the edge of the bed and sat down.

"Well it seems you are awake and pissed off Devus at the same time," the black haired man stated with little emotion.

_So Devus was the guy who was in here earlier, _Riku thought.

"I am Vincent," the man greeted.

"Riku. Where am I exactly?" Riku asked.

Vincent was about to reply when a loud slam echoed through the room. A man will long silver hair, wearing a long black coat stomped past the door. Vincent sighed.

"Why don't you just ask him Sephiroth?" Vincent asked loudly.

Sephiroth returned to the doorway. His light green eyes narrowed. His muscular chest was visible though the unzipped coat.

"That will never work!" Sephiroth yelled.

He stomped away. Another shorter man with silver hair that reached down his back walked by the doorway and looked down at the muddy footprints across the wooden floor.

"Just because I cook doesn't mean I am the maid as well!" The shorter man with silver hair screamed.

_This place is really weird, _Riku thought.

The shorter man with silver hair looked at Riku.

"I am Yazoo. I cook because no one else here can or will," the man greeted.

Yazoo left the doorway. Vincent sighed again and got up.

"Your in Traverse Town," Vincent said.

Vincent left Riku to his thoughts.

After a few minutes, Riku left the small wooden room and looked outside the door. The room was connected to a small kitchen with a small round table. Sephiroth was cleaning the mud off the floor, while Yazoo watched him carefully to make sure that he finished cleaning. Riku had to laugh at the strong Sephiroth being reduced to cleaning. Sephiroth wasn't too keen on cleaning the floor. Yazoo looked at Riku, than pointed to a black pot on the small white stove at the far wall. Riku walked around the mud and Sephiroth to get to the stove. He picked up a small brown clay bowl and looked inside the pot. A silver ladle sank into the red bubbling carrot and tomato soup. As Riku began to pour the soup into the bowl, he noticed that Devus was staring at him from the front metal door.

"You hungry Devus?" Riku asked.

Devus nodded and walked over to the stove. Riku passed Devus the bowl that was already full and got another one. After a moment, Devus pressed the edge of the bowl against his lips and drank the soup. Just as Riku put a small metal spoon in his mouth, screams echoed through the building.

"That sounds like people being attacked outside. Shouldn't Yazoo go to defend them?" Sephiroth hinted.

Yazoo stared at Sephiroth than stood up, and looked at Riku.

"Janet!" Yazoo called.

A girl with long red hair that was tied back walked into the kitchen. She wore a purple tunic and a dark purple breastplate. Her dark purple skirt went down to her knees and her matching boots tapped lightly on the floor.

"Yes Yazoo," The girl said sweetly.

"Janet, make sure that Sephiroth finishes cleaning the floor. If he tries to move use these to black mail him," Yazoo ordered as he passed Janet some photos.

Yazoo turned to Devus and Riku.

"You two will help me take care of business outside," he ordered again.

Yazoo walked out through the metal front door, followed closely by Devus and Riku. Once the three left, Janet turned to Sephiroth.

"You're too sweet to keep me cleaning and you know it," Sephiroth stated.

Janet smiled. Her sweet white smile portrayed her innocence.

"Yes but now my package came," Janet replied.

She took out long silver sharp scissors and a long leek.

"Lets picture this leek being the most prized item on your body," Janet said while still smiling.

She easily cut the leek in a second. Sephiroth's eyes widened.

Outside, the Heartless swarmed around the building. Riku summoned forth his keyblade, but this time it was his old black bladed keyblade with the angel and evil winged handle. Although Riku was upset that he lost the new keyblade, which he had at Destiny Islands, but he wasn't about to let that affect his will to protect people. He charged at the Heartless. He had destroyed many with the swings of his keyblade but some got past him. He turned around, but the Heartless were already destroyed by thousands of thin strings that were tied to Devus' wrists. Yazoo aimed his silver gun at the Heartless that was right beside Riku's head.

"Pay attention Riku!" Yazoo ordered.

He blasted some more Heartless. After a while the Heartless fled suddenly. Riku looked around but saw nothing that would make the Heartless flee so quickly. Yazoo put his gun in an inside pocket of his jacket. He was about to enter when Riku called him.

"I need to find Sora. Do you have a way to search other worlds?" Riku explained.

"There is an old gummi ship in the back. It still works well," Yazoo replied.

Yazoo entered the wooden building. Riku was about to enter, but Devus grabbed his left arm.

"Can I go with you?" Devus asked.

"Ok, but why?" Riku asked.

"I want revenge on the Nobodies for making my brother one of them," Devus replied with hatred and anger.

There was a silence. Riku told Devus that Organization 13 was defeated, but that didn't stop Devus' hatred.

The two entered the building.

Just as Devus and Riku walked through the front door, there was a bright flash. Yazoo took a photograph with a small black camera of Sephiroth doing laundry in a bright pink mini skirt.

"More black mail," Yazoo grinned.

"I'll kill you for that one!" Sephiroth threatened.

"No talking on the job!" Janet's voice echoed.

With a loud clank, Sephiroth went to the laundry room. Yazoo walked to the back of the building with a large grin on his face. Devus followed silently, but Riku was very confused.

_Very, very weird, _Riku thought as he walked to the back door.

The back door led to a small opening between the buildings. The blue and white gummi ship stood in the center and took up almost all the space. Riku examined the gummi ship than looked up at the sky. The sun had begun to set.

"The gummi ship is ready to go. All three of us could set off at anytime," Yazoo explained.

"Three of us?" Riku asked.

"My brother Kadaj has been missing for some time. I will find him and help you two," Yazoo replied.

Yazoo opened the door to the gummi ship. Sephiroth came outside carrying a small brown box.

"I see your not wearing the pink shirt anymore," Yazoo stated.

Sephiroth immediately told Yazoo to stop talking. He gave the box to Devus.

"This should help you," Sephiroth stated.

Devus opened the box and took out a doll of Sephiroth. Riku questioned what the point of the gift was, but the only reply he got was that Devus knew what to do with it. With a somewhat farewell, Devus, Riku and Yazoo got on the gummi ship and left Traverse Town.

_Author's note: In case you as the reader didn't realize this, the story has two plots, A Sora Plot and Riku Plot. This allows you as the reader to choose between reading just the Sora Plot, or just the Riku Plot, or both. The Sora Plot Chapters are 'Key Chapters' and the Riku Plot Chapters are 'Soul Chapters'. Although both Plots will intertwine and thus you get a 'Key and Soul Chapter' The Plots will only spoil the ending if you finished reading one and not the other._

_Dragon Drow_


End file.
